the antdoesn't, and each winter the anthas to be taken in. we're left with this planet, we've got to do something about it. >> on those words central park five is in theaters now. that's "viewpoint" for tonight. have a great evening. i'll see you here tomorrow. have a good evening. [ ♪ theme ♪ ] [ music ] >> hey, good morning everybody. it is a wednesday, a very beautiful, warm wednesday here in our nation's capitol, wednesday, december 5th. good to see you today. welcome to the "full-court press" where we bring you the news of the day and engage you in a very healthy, lively

conversation about it for the in connection three hours. good to have you with us today. give us a call at 866-55-press. how about this? fox news and the nra are demanding bob costas's resignation because they say he spoke out too soon about gun control room after the murder-suicide of kansas city chief jovan belcher. according to the nra when is the best time to talk about gun control? never! yeah, you can never satisfy those guys. good morning, everybody. we will bring you up to date on all of the news of the day. today's current news update from lease a ferguson out in los angeles. hi, lease a. good morning. >> hey, bill. good morning. it is a chilly dark foggy morning here in los angeles but i am glad you got some of our nice weather. president obama is speaking to a couple of groups, today, the 2012 tribal nations conference of the department of the interior. first off, he will answer questions from members of the

business round table, amid a debate over the fiscal cliff. the group is urging congress to take immediate action to avoid those automatic tax increases and spending cuts come january. president obama is saying that with the way speaker boehner plan stands now, no deal. >> unfortunately the speaker's proposal is out of balance. we will have to see the rates on the top 2% go up and we are not going to be able to get a deal without it. >> that was an exclusive with bloomberg t.v. and the first televised interview since the president's re-election. as you heard, taxes are the big issue blocking this deal from taking place. president obama is calling for downhill the amount of tax revenue as speaker boehner over the next tens years, most from the nation's top earners. many. republicans say that's not the way to handle this. here is marco rubio. >> it wouldn'ting make a small bent in the debt but it would

heard middle class businesses. >> the g.o.p. could be risking a civil war over this issue. it does not look like obama is ready to cave. if that forces republican leaders to compromise staunch conservatives will likely rebel. more "bill press" up after the break. we will be right back. exciting issue. from financial regulation, iran getting a nuclear bomb, civil war in syria, fraud on wall street, destruction of medicare and medicaid. there are real issues here. having been a governor, i know that trade-offs are tough. things everyday exploding around the world that leave no shortage for exciting conversations. i want our viewer to understand why things have happened. at the end of the show, you know what has happened, why its happened and more importantly, what's going to happen tomorrow. at cepacol we've heard people are going to extremes to relieve their sore throats. oh, okay, you don't need to do that. but i don't want any more of the usual lozenges and i want new cooling relief!

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food differently. and introducing 7 lunch choices for just $7.99. salads, sandwiches, and more. [ music ] >>. >> broadcasting across the nation, on your radio, and on current tv this is "the bill press show." >> bill: hey, how about this? word is out that fox news has sidelined karl rove and dick morris. maybe because those gas bags got everything wrong anyhow. good morning, everybody. happy wednesday.

it is wednesday, december 5, 2012. great to see you today. welcome to the only progressive morning show anywhere, the full court press, coming to you live from our studios on capitol hill here in washington, d.c. great to see you today. thanks for being part of the program. you can really be part of the program if you jump into the conversation the purpose of the "full court press" is not what it's all about, not just to tell you what's going on here around the country and around the globe. there is lots to talk about, but to get you involved in the conversation, give you a chance to sound off early this morning on the topics of the day. of course, you do so by giving us a call a lot 866-55-press, our toll-free number. we will pay for the call. just hear what you have to say. you can follow us on twitter at

bp show on face book dog, facebook.com/bill press show and your chance to talk to other "full-court press"ers around the land about the issues of the day and the -- in the chat room at current.com. follow the chat room link. you are there, joining the entire "full-court press." cyprian bold with a classic, classic t-shirt. peter: the warrant bullets. >> bill: i said yesterday, a couple of days ago, once they change the name of washington's basketball team from the bullets to the wizards, it was downhill. cyprian is starting to dam pain to bring back the bullits >> peter: i want to find out

where to get one of those >> bill: santa claus. make your list. >> peter: there you go. >> bill: they said they had to change the name. last night up against the defending world champs, the heat, the wizards come alive. here is dave johnson making the call. >> 105-101. wizards by 4 with 2.2 seconds left, and my friends, that it is. the heat won't call a time out. the celebration is on here at the verizon center. the wizards going to wire to wire, coast to coast, working hard throughout. and the results, a 4.1 winner, 105, 101. >> there you go. >> we will take it. >> wizards are the new world champs. they beated the does he have fending world champs. >> the wizards, washltdz sports on a roll.

>> slow down. we've got two wins understand our belt for the wizards. okay? a one-game winning streak isn't exactly something p >> bill: i will take it. i will take it. what a line-up, eliot spitzer from current tv's viewpoint joining us as he does very graciously every wednesday morning. steve israel, the man who is responsible for picking up eight new democratic seats in the house of representatives will be along in studio with us. we will talk to dave zirin, our sports editor about the trouble bob costas has found himself in by daring to mention gun control. but first. >> this is the full court press other headlines making news mcdonald's colt fans need listen up, the mcrib is coming up. the cult's favorite pork sandwich will go on sale

december 17th mark your calendar, again for a limited time only while many want the non-anatomically correct sandwich to be on the menu year around. mcdonald's says it comes on as a special during the holidays because pork is popular during cold weather. >> bill: i don't understand this. i thought that was a huge success. >> i don't understand when they said they don't sell enough. i never, ever ever eat at mcdonald's. >> bill: right. >> peter: unless they have the mcrib and i will get it one because they do it about once a year and i will get one mcrib for the season. >> this was delayed. it was supposed to be in october but they said it was too warm outside and they felt they weren't going to sell any. >> insane. weird arbitrary rules. >> can i ask a dumb question? what is this about non-anatomically correct? >> peter: it's shaped like a

penis. no. it's not. >> bill: the roll is or the rib? peter: it's boneless pork product and it's made to look like a little tiny rack of ribs with fake bones in it. it's terrifying. it's pressed into a rib. there is no bones in it. totally fake. >> bill: all right. i got it. all right. i didn't understand that it was a section toy -- a sex toy >> peter: you haven't had a mcrib. it's a sexual experience, only if you are eating it right. >> bill: how long do i have to wait to get one? >> december 17th. keep your pants on. >> barbara walters leaked the first name of this year's most fascinating people show. >> bill: ruined it for me. i can't wait to hear. for 12 months. >> peter: you are not about to

say what i think -- it's honey booboo. it will be part of the december 12th abc special. no word of who else is on the list but honey booboo. >> that's like the pope tweeting. who the... cares. >> in all honesty if there was any credibility left to this barbara walters special. >> she hasn't had credibility since she dated -- john -- for get his name. warner. zero credibility sense. >> why would she do that? what's the best t.v. sitcom ever? a new vanity fair 60 minute poll finds that it is seinfeld the former nbc comedy that aired for eight years. 82% chose jerry seinfeld's company the best of the honeymooners friends cheers

and arrested development. married with children now now in the top 5. no, sir. >> bill: absolutely. all right. got to be number 2 or three. >> here is the deal. fellow "full-court press"ers fellow americans if you had -- if you thought, had the wildestly thought that president obama was going to go be able to make a deal with the congressional republicans, if you had the wildest, you know, just absolutely out of this world idea that maybe they would come to their senses and realize we really can't screw this up and take this country over the fiscal cliff, if you had any thoughts along those lines, just forget. okay? forget it. think again. if you don't believe it, this is really sad of the this is

tragic. i am a big-time democrat. all right? i have got a lot of friends, good friends who are republicans. i have got nothing against the republican party. they don't know any better for the most part but i am glad i am not a member of this current republican party because they are too damn mean. here is what happened yesterday. bob dole over the years, particularly when i was at cnn, i got to know bob dole. he was on our show a lot. i really liked the man. he is a genuine american war hero, disabled very badly wounded in the war, never kept him down. he was a great senator from kansas representing the people there and the people of the united states, a very fair, very effective senate majority leader. he didn't do so well as a presidential candidate but a funny, very funny human being, a lot of fun to be around.

so bob dole now 89 years old, not in great health just a week ago, he was in the walter reed hospital and word was he was so infirmed they didn't think he was going to make it. so he makes it. he is released yesterday. his wife elizabeth dole wheels him into the united states senate where he urged his fellow republicans to vote to endorse the united nations treaty on disabilities. this treaty, united nation's treaty. it does nothing -- doesn't change any existing law, doesn't give it any authority at all in the united states. it doesn't make any new laws in the united states. all the treaty says get this it encourages other nations to give staled people the same rights that they enjoy in the united states. they enjoy in the united states under the americans with disabilities acts with 1990, which bob dole championed and george h.w. bush signed into

law. it's a great law that has helped millions of americans: 154 countries, other nations have endorsed this and saying disabled people should have same rights other americans enjoy like they do in the united states of america. it needed add two-thirds vote. john kerry was the champion who carried it on the floor in the house, in the senate and said come on. here is bob dole. he is here for a reason. >> that's why an 89-year-old veteran one week removed from bethesda naval hospital comes back to the senate on an early december day, because it matters. >> bill: and yet, the republicans, what do they do? they came up one by one, shook bob dole's hand and they stabbed him in the back. it needed a two-thirds vote. it only got six, all democrats voted for it. and there were a handful of

republicans who did 689 i am going to give them credit. john mccain, kelly ayotte senator brasso scott brown, susan collins, olympia snowe, dick lugar lease a mckowski. the rest voted no lead by tea partyer mike lee from utah and the tea party said, no no, we can't do this because this is going to interfere with our national so far writtenty. no, it's not. and. >> and this is going to interfere with parents' rights to control their own children. >> we all want to support the best interest of the child every child but i and many of my constituents including those who send their children to private or religious schools very long justifiable doubts that foreign u.n. body, a committee operating out of geneva switzerland should decide what is in the best interest of the child at home.

insane. totally insane. >> that's are the flat earnthers. mike lee was joined by surprise surprise, rick santorum that said this will prevent parents. again, again, the treaty on disabledties just says all of the disabled people around the world should have the same opportunities that the united states does. hold the united states up in the americans disabilitities act as a model they should follow. my point is, if these insane republicans are still out there in la la land still out there like the flat earth society on this issue, do you think they are going to be able to come to an agreement on the debt ceiling or -- and on the fiscal cliff? forget it. >> it was remarkable to see how this happened yesterday. i will read from john stanton's twitter feed our friend from business feed. i was there -- buzzfeed. his presence could push it over the edge. dole was there watching them vote. after he left the floor, he said

the republicans very quietly got up, didn't vote from their desk. they got up quietly walked up to vote. he said that was remarkable because nobody wants that video in a commercial of them voting against bob dole, against people with disabilities. >> yeah, senator moran now, i forget his first name from texas who, i'm sorry from kansas jerry moran of kansas. i think he has the bob dole seat. he put out a press release with john mccain praising the treaty when it was first brought to the senate. he voted against it yesterday. these guys are courts and mean and they don't care. they don't care about the disabled either. my point is, again, this is the gang that the president has got to do business with. forget it. forget it. it's not going to happen. so i want to ask you this. tonight, i will be at the whitehouse. it's a christmas party tonight the first christmas party for the washington -- for the white house press corps. >> i will be there. carol and i are going.

you get your picture taken with the president and 15 action 20 seconds, time to get one message in. right? to say to the president. what the do you think i ought to say to the president? what do you think my message ought to be? i would like to take a message from all you. i will tell you what i am thinking of, just so you know. and i want your reaction at 866-55-press. i am thinking of two things, congratlarks mr. president, great campaign. great victory. no. 2, no deal mr. president is better than a bad deal. don't cave. be strong. don't give in to these yahoos. don't give into these no-nothings. congratlarks mr. president, and remember, we got your back. no deal is better than a bad deal. you tell me. 866-55-press. >> this is "the bill press show." party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but

i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

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[ music ] >> on your radio and on current tv this is "the bill press show." >> hey good evening, mr. president. shoot. i don't know what to say. how about those wizards? peters how about those wizards? how about rg3 >> bill: a good place to start on a wednesday morning. so what do you think? give them 15 -- given 15 seconds, what message do you think i should carry to the big guy tonight. peter? what's our -- before we get to the phones social world lightingly up? >> peter: tweeting @bpshow. >> i will keep track. >> congratulations.

give them hell mr. president. don't let them hold our nation hostage any longer. >> i like that. >> david rosser says raising taxes on the wealthy will not kill any wealthy focus. cutting services will kill some folks and patricia says no deal. don't cave. >> 15 seconds. >> no deal, mr. president. no deal is better than a bad deal. >> that's what my viewers and listeners say. i certainly agree. let's see. keek it up peter. melissa from polaski, virginia. what do you say? >> i say hold strong. no deal. i am so sick of these tea baggers and everything they have done to this country. i want to see bite marks on their neck. they are holding the rest of us hostage for their own self gain. i am tired of the plutocrats in this country, all of the tax

brakes and everything for millionaires we are tired. obama we have your back. >> hold strong. we have your back. no deal. there is no reason to cave now. no, no no. i understand. i hated to see him do it two years ago, unemployment insurance is on the line. the president said i am not got to let millions of americans e lapse. i am willing to go along with extending these for two more years. no reason to do it now. sarah calling from oh, my god, my french pronunciation. grand blanc, michigan. >> "grand blank"? >> probably "grand blank". >> you guys are a hoot. it's grand blanc but they think it's gran blanc. toe that line. let's face it, guys. these guys take advantage of every low-life there is out there as far as money. big money, big money, big money. it's time that the american

people tell the president -- they did through the election. he won in a landslide. >> bill: you got it. you got it. i agree, sarah, mr. president, you won. be strong. >> this is "the bill press show." my god, look at this national debt. we can't do this. they'll try to kill social security, medicare and everything they've always wanted to kill in the first place. about "the heavy hand of government". i want to have that conversation. let's talk about it. really. really! that you're gonna lay people off because now the government's going to help you fund your health care. really? i wanna be able to have those conversations. not just to be confrontational, but to understand what the other side is saying. and you know, i'd like to arm our viewers with the ability to argue with their conservative uncle joe over the dinner table.

[ music ] >> chatting with you live at current.com/bill presscurrent.com/billpress this is "the bill press show" live on your radio and current tv sglfrnings all right. thirty-three minutes after the hour, wednesday moving right along on the "full-court press." taking your calls on the opportunity i will have tonight. say a quick hello to the leader of the free world on your behalf.

what's a quick message you think you want -- you would like me to pass along on your behalf? we will get right back to your calls and your e-mails and your twitter comments? just a second. bulb first, here is another little friendly reminder if you are wondering how you will be able to pay for those christmas presents you will be out buying, something you ought to look at is take a look at income at home.com. they are america's leading work from home business, doing business in over 80 countries so they know what they are doing, and this is no doubt something you can do yourself, no matter your age, education, or your experience. you can literally earn money on your own computer from the your own kitchen table 24/7. if you are sick of living paycheck to paycheck worried about job security or retirement, no sense complaining about it. if you are looking to earn extra income from home part-time or full-time, here is your opportunity, go to incomeathome.com. they are adding my listeners in recordners, giving away a

thousand bucks to somebody for checking them out. visit incomeathome.com. incomeathome.com. peter? >> peter: yes, indeed tweeting separates@bp show, neil king, our friend from the "wall street journal." >>. >> up early this morning. >> in his jogging outfit. >> out for a run. neil responding to our questions about what you should tell the president today. you should say good evening. should i stand to the right or left of you, smile and your 15 seconds is over. >> bill: has obviously been through that line several times. >> exactly. he is hard to miss. 8 feet tall. >> taller than michelle obama. >> g colly says tell podus to stand firm for us, 98%, don't blow it by praising the wizards. remember, he is a bulls fan. we are chattingom. >> bill: i want to say the last thing i am going to do is get into a sports conversation with

the president, with the country's number 1 sports fan. >> you would probably be out matched in that. >> he would know right away it is all bs with me >> peter: we are chatting chatting @current.com/billpress. >> one comment says i know what bill is going to do. he is going to hit barack up for one of those beers. you still haven't gottun before those? >> i would still working on it. >> there you go. find us online at bp show. >> actually, what i really plan to do is try to sell him a carol press scarf. >> that would be good. maybe make sure you bring an extra one? >> i should wear it. watch the secret service. jump out to oakland california. hi, cj. good morning. >> good morning. can you hear me? >> bill: loud and clear. caller: just like you, you say, hold firm. we have your back. citizens have your back and keep pushing it out there to the public, but, also, have you

heard that clip from ronald reagan on what social security and medicare have nothing to do with the deficit? have you heard that clip? >> bill: no. i know that's the truth but i haven't heard that clip from ronald reagan. try to find it, dan. yeah. he said it in his day. it was true then. it is true today. >> that's right. he says even if you pull that money, if you took money from them, it wouldn't go to reduce the deficit. so if you can get that clip, i think he was running against bob dole or somebody. i forget who it was. >> in the primary is. >> yeah. we will try to find it. i am interested in that. >> that's the thing with the republicans today even though social security has may nottedy of money if we would stop stealing from it. it's not going to expire anyhow. i mean run out of money until it rungs short of money until something like 2035 and even then, it would pay most of the benefits. it's a non-issue of dealing with the debt crisis. but republicans hate social

security. they've always wanted to abolish it ever since the days of franklin roosevelt and they are trying to insist we have to cut social security. the president and harry reid have said, uh-uh. we are not going to touch it. and we are not. here we go. our roving ambassador in where? 40 pierce, florida. hey. hard to keep up with. >> gets around. >> i got to move around. >> i have to stay in the motion. we have a president that we, the voters, i that the a lot of voters stood in line for hours. hold the line the we have been there for hours to make sure he got another. cap itlation should be nowhere in his vo capillary s? >> i like that. hold the line is a phrase that keeps coming across. >> hold the lionel. >> hold the line you held the line, standing in line. >> that's right. that's right, man, for hours.

>> you ought to head up to washington, man. it's as warm here in washington, i bet, as it is in florida today. >> it is gorgeous here i need my sun tan lotion . >> work on that tan while you are down there we have had two days, 70 degrees. it's incredible. >> people walking around without a jacket. >> december in the caribbean. >> weird. so tonight, white houses correspondents, the first party at the lab house, they do one for radio, print and some t.v. and another one, they just divide them up because there are so many of us. our turn is tonight, a chance to tell the president a message from all of you, hold the line seems to be the message. ron from elgin, illinois. what do you say? >> good morning, bill. no deal. no how. no way. the american people very long

spoken. this is not an ologarchy mr. boehner would like to put in place. the american people, as others have said, have his back. no deal. >> i love that. no deal. no how. no way. again, i am not against compromise on compromise -- when compromise is necessary. there is no reason to cave no reason to compromise with this gang. right? we won. we won. we asked the -- the president asked the american people: what the do you want? do you want the wealthiest to pay the 2%, to pay a little higher taxes? yes or no? if you vote yes, sir, vote for me. he won. right? >> he won. the american people have said yes. >> i like it. i like it ron, no deal no way. no how. we have your back. mr. president, mary is from wergin, illinois. >> it's weir-gin illinois. >> i'm sorry.

our bad. >> a lot of people calling you. i think your message congratulations and stay strong. don't cag, those are all smokes that we all have after the election. >> yeah. >> i worry about this with the filibuster and stuff. i hope to heavens they change that criteria. i wanted to ask one question, and then i will let you go. i know you have got a lot of people to talk to. i am not the most brilliant person when it comes tom politics and when i heard about this thing today with bob dole -- >> bill: yeah. >> what kind of argument did the republicans use because just to say that it's interfering with homeschool doesn't even make sense. >> bill: no. they had this inordinate fear this insane fear. united faiths. they think we should never have been in the united nations, since 1935 they have been trying

to get us out of it. they are afraid of of this one-world government. it's a fear based upon absolutely nothing. the united nations has zero authority over anything that happens in this country. we are in no way bound to follow any -- maybe we should be, but we are not. they have no impact on american laws. nobody is ever going to be arrested in this country for violating some principal or treaty of the united nations. so i mean they throw all of this stuff out there. these are like the birthers mary. those people who will still don't believe president obama no matter how much evidence you show them they refuse to believe he was born in the united states. >> we wonder why that is. >> this treaty 155 -- 154 countries have already endorsed it. again, all it says is hey, you know, when it comes to disabled people, you ought to take a look at the united states of america. they did something really great

in 1990. and you ought to model your laws after what the united states did and we shoot that down even though the author of that laws bob dole himself, came in to beg his fellow republicans to vote for -- to endorse the treaty. i am telling you it was really disgusted. it was mean. it was shameful, just outrageous what they did to bob dole. they ought to be ashamed of themselves. he will jot spitzer, host of ""viewpoint"" joins us every wednesday morning, as he will when we come back from this break on the "full-court press." [ music ] >> radio meets television "the bill press show," now, on current tv. bs, just tellling you what's going on in politics today. (vo) at the only online forum with a direct line to bill press. current.com/billpress

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you know who's coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys who do like verse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. >> she gets the comedians laughing... >> that's hilarious! >> ...and the thinkers thinking. >> okay, so there's wiggle-room in the ten commandments is what you're telling me. >> you would rather deal with ahmadinejad then me. >> absolutely! >> and so would mitt romeny. >> she's joy behar. >> and the best part is that current will let me say what the hell were they thinking? >> only on current tv. [ music ]

>> this is "the full court press: the bill press show," live on your radio and on current tv. >> how about it, 14 minutes before the top of the hour, it is the full court press on this wednesday morning, december 5th, brought to you today by the utility workers of north america. good men and women of the utility workers' union under president michael langford delivering brighter services and a brighter future find out more at uwua.net. viewpoint on current tv 8:00 p.m. with eliot spitzer. this man burns the candle at both ends. he is willing to join us at least once a week he does every wednesday morning to comment on the issues of the day. hey, elliott, good morning. >> good morning.

burn it too much except one week i forgot to call in. other than that, we do okay. >> you are not that far from washington, but i am interested -- >> emotionally we are very far away. >> okay. i am interested even with the benefit of 500 miles how does this for the prospects for a deal on fiscal cliff look from your perspective? >> you know -- >> do you think it's going to happen. >> short answer is i don't know because i see two trends simultaneously. one, you hear voices in either party saying, hey, it wouldn't be so bad if we go over the cliff. some of the hysteria attendant to the whole notion of the cliff is being -- dissipating. on the other hand, if you look at the numbers, they are not that far apartment. you know, honestly, it's not as though we are dealing with major tectonic plates moving in separate drksz. the president saying 1.6 trillion in revenue and boehner saying 800 billion. so compromise at 1.2 trillion.

you see the cuts the deal in aggregate are about 2 and change in trillions. where they differ emotional is raising rates. for obtain is a line in the sand. for the president, that's a line in the sand. there are mechanisms buckets and closing loopholes don't satisfy the president. so that is the sticking point. have to work around that? hard to say. >> i was thinking about that this morning. the idea that republicans seem to have embraced and est points in the last 10 years since the tax cuts were endorsed, were enacted as a temporary measure. right? >> uh-huh. >> now they embrace the theology that we will never, never, never, never raise tax rates. sot it's really kind of dangerous to do not that be isn't it, in terms of how can you govern without a source of revenue. >> it's dangerous.

they became absolutists. it became a theology for them. you can't governor with theology, especially on something as mechanicnistic as taxes and you say come back to the real world. yes is will they leave the theology aside and do what president reagan did. deep down i think a lot of what he did was fundamentally wrong. put that aside. people love him. president reagan equalized. he should be doing that. >> he preached kind of his -- the rhetoric was always very extreme. >> yeah. >> in many ways, he was a very practicinggmatic politician? >> you are exactly right. >> i am sure you saw front page "new york times," lead story this morning is, republicans realized that if they go to the first of the year and allow tax rates to go up on the 98%, on the middle class, that they are going to be blamed for it.

they are going to look bad. so the headline this morning, "republicans are looking for a fallback to avoid a fiscal stand-off. they would be smart to do so. don't you think? >> absolutely. we think they need a way out. it's always hard to know what the guy sees as their self interest is the you and i and a lot of others say our bargaining position gets strong he every day as we get closer to a that cliff precisely because of the shift in what the tax rates actually look like. i think that's part of the r.n. the president has been able to just sit there and say, here is my view. i am not moving. pressure is on you guys. whether the they snap, you know, some members are saying, okay. we are willing to go off of this theology. it's going to be kind of a process of attrition as one by one they fall off. >> a shift in line-up in and the new senators coming up the first of the year, interesting news

this week that elizabeth warren is going to be apointed as a member, newest member of the senate banking committee. that will send some chills through wall street. isn't it? >> they are all saying this is our worst nightmare. >> bill: great. >> why didn't they leave her at the consumer protection bureau? she would have fiddled around with a few little rules. they honestly don't know whether this is worse than having her there. they are saying, okay. she will be one of 100, a few speeches. what can one senate do? calm down. you don't quite know how they view it. they are now seeing what happens when you play opposition so hard, they made her into an icon. >> they shot her down as head of the consumer finance protection bureau. then they tried to defeat her in massachusetts. and she comes rising now and she is going to get -- >> what do you think she is going to walk into a banking and wants to open an account? who do you think shes up?

i am new to washington. i need to open an account. can you guys help me? what's all of this fine print on this stuff? >> you know, another thing, if they think that she is just going to be any old member of the senate banking committee and won't have an impact on that committee, once again, they miss judge her. right? >> absolutely this is somebody who is dedicated to change. >> the most important question of the day i am saving through it, we see that now mayor bloomberg not going to run for a fourth term. >> you never know. i mate to abrupt. he could change the rules again. >> i pick my suggestionsor, hillary clinton. ain't going to happen. is it? >> no. i think she would realize that negotiating between netan yahoo is hamas: she is saying, uh-uh. i am keeping my day job. >> don't have to deal with the potholes and that kind of stuff. >> mayor of john lindsey, this is ancient history from the me

ran and i think the slogan was the second cup of java in america. there is a lot of truth in that. being a mayor, is being tough because you actually have to provide services whether it's the garbage or plow the streets in the snow stores it's a tough job. >> you are on the line. they know where you live and they have your home number. we will see you tonight on view point, 8:00 p.m. current tv. thanks so. >> always a pleasure. >> he willelliott, the greatest, a great show "viewpoint" at 8:00 p.m. eastern. >> this is the bill press shows. the right have about "the heavy hand of government". i want to have that conversation. really! you know, i'd like to arm our viewers with the ability to argue with their conservative uncle joe over the dinner table.

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>> taking your e-mails on any topic at any time, this is "the bill press show" live on your radio and current tv. >> all right. carl chris from strategies as a friend of bill will be joined bygesman steve israel from new york. richard maxwell e-mails in hey bill, all boehner & company want to do is protect the obscenely rich probably because they will be needing a good job when the people of the country realize how they have been taken by the super rich. mary ward says please explain how filing income taxes could become problematic if we don't resolve fiscal issues. impeach bainor. could we do that. >> too many support the shenanigans and those who are willing to refuse bread for themselves because they fear a black man may eat from the same loaf.

this man says bill press you are an idiot. i would explain more but being such an idiot >> it would simply be a waste. just live with the knowledge that you qualify. please tell me more. >> this is "the bill press show."

[ music ] >> good morning everybody. good morning fellow americans, and welcome. welcome to the "full-court press." this wednesday morning december 5th, great to see you today. we have lots to talk about a lot happening here in the nation's capitol the still back and forth on the fiscal cliff. lots to talk about around the

country. we will give you a chance to sound off and tell us what it means to you at 866-55-press. >> that's our toll-free number. big news on the media front today, it's been revealed fox news has put out the word we don't karl rove and dick morris to pop up on our air any more at least for a little while. no wonder because during campaign, they got everything wrong. you know, you have to be pretty extreme when your two right-wing even for fox news. karl rove and dick morris sayonara. today's latest current news update. lease a ferguson in our studio in los angeles. hi, lease a. good morning. >> hey, bill. good morning, everyone. let's start out with a couple of updates from the senate. first off, g.o.p. members have rejected a treaty from the united nations that would have banned discrimination against

people with disabilities. that vote goes against a very impassioned speech from senator john kerry and against the wishes of former senator bob dole. mr. dole was logging to see this treaty pace so much so that he came to the senate floor where he sat in his wheelchair as members from both parties came up to shake his hand. but after mr. dole's wife rolled him off of the senate floor, the senate voted the treaty down 61 to 38. now, what this would have done is given people with disabilities same rights as those without, but opponents said it could infringe on american renty by giving bycratic power over children with disabilities. a frew republicans did vote for the treaty. most voted against it. the senate did, though, pass a massive defense bill yesterday worth $631,000,000,000. the national defense authridesation act imposes new sanctions against iran changes

the policy for american citizens and restores the pentagon bio fuels program. the defense bill has always had bi-partisan support. this time, it passed unanimously 98 to zero. we will be right back. who watch our show to be able to come away armed with facts and the arguments to feel confident in their positions. i want them to have the data and i want them to have the passion. but it's also about telling them that you're put on this planet for something more! i want this show to have an impact beyond just informing. an impact that gets people to take action for themselves. as a human being that's really important. this is not just a spectator sport.

[ music ] >> broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv this is "the bill press show". >> president obama tells bloomberg news one more time, there will be no deal unless tax rates go up for the wealthiest of americans. what do you say? hello, everybody. and a great big wednesday morning to you. great to see you this morning. it is the full court press

coming to you live from our nation's capitol here on washington d.c. keeping our eye on what's going on down the street from us. not much. talked to a friend of mine congressman yesterday who said they are going home today. they are sending them home. they have nothing to vote on. they are not even close to a deal. they are going out today. they had no votes on monday. they had one vote yesterday. they have one or two today on other issues and they go home and won't back until next tuesday. >> that's how hard your members of congress are working for you. we are working a hell of a lot harder than that right here and giving you a chance to weigh in on the issues of the day. give us a call at 866-55-press. follow us on twitter @bpshow and on facebook facebook.com/billpressshow. a friend of bill for this hour back as a friend of bill carlkarl

frisch with full"full-fight strategies". >> right. i am everywhere at once. >> the bi-coastal current tv guest. >> that's right. >> so who paid for the flight east? stephanie or me? >> we can talk about that after the show. >> don't sick al gore on me please. >> team press here, as always in place. peter okaygburn and dan henning. >> hey hey. happy wednesday. >> cyprian, videographer and phil backert on the phones. last night, the reason they kept congress here last night and didn't let them go is because they had the ceremonial lighting of the congressional christmas tree down in front of the capitol, a beautiful tree. my wife drove by it while they were decorating it. >> war on christmas. >> true. >> the colorado spruce. >> a colorado spruce and speaker

john boehner explained, as only he could do, what is the tree is all about. >> we will bring lights to the tree that flourishes as a symbol of everlasting life. this tree will bring light to us, opening our hearts a little more than to the needs of our neighbors. >> that's terrible. >> who need life. >> one sentence, he can't get it out. >> surely such as in america with their books and such as in iran iraq and afghanistan. in as. >> maybe they couldn't get the teleprompter up that high. >> i thought it was weird when they said, okay, it's now time to light the tree and he flicked a cigarette butt on it. whoops. sorry. >> actually, he had help lighting the tree from an eagle scout. so here are the two of them doing job here. >> 3, 2, 1.

scholte [crowd cheers. cadillac. >> i am upset he couldn't sing. i wanted to hear john boehner. >> he is a plant in the war on christmas. i look for it everywhere now. i have to. when you are at war? it's everywhere. you have to keep your eyes out. >> did he call it a holiday tree or christmas tree sne. >> he talked about the story of jesus in bethelehem so i think he called it a x-rays tree. >> there weren't any. >> frankincense is the exact same shade of orange as john boehner so he's got that in

common. >> his roots go all the way back. >> carl fritsche here, god knows what we will get into that. steve israel, head of the democratic congressional campaign committee will be in studio with us a little bit later. we will talk to dave zirin, our sports editor at the top of the next hour about bob costas getting in trouble for getdaring to mention the two words, "gun control" but first. what do you got, dan? >> the full court press. >> other headlines making news on this wednesday, it looks like karl rove's election night -- everything all right? >> peter: bill forgot he was doing a radio and t.v. show. go for it. >> looks like karl rove's election night meltdown has caused him to lose air time on fopings news. new york magazine confirms that fox news chief roger ailes is limiting karl rove and dick

morris's air time and programming head bill schein seconded that saying the election is over. karl rove has barely been on air. he questioned the network's calling the election for president obama. >> dick morris did say he was excited to be able to spend more time with his hookers. >> if you are a new orleans hornets fan -- >> new orleans har lots. >> if you are a new orleans hornets fan, your jersey may be a collector term. they are changing their name to the new orleans pel cans, tom benson who owns the saints said he wanted to change the name. >> did you get the story off of the on yun? >> it's true. i don't know why they would name them the pelicans. >> because the pel cans because the brown pelicans the brown

pel pelican is the state bird of louisiana. >> the lakers, the name from minnesota, yeah. i think theat president obama should intervene here the new orleans basketball team should be the new orleans sxraz. they should take that back from utah because who equates jazz with utah? >> well, i understand that they treat people that play jazz music in utah the same way as they treated witches in salem. >> michael jordan is interested in the hornets' name. it could become the charlotte hornets. >> what's point? >> good grief. >> speaking of names, we have to point out that cyprian is wearing the real name of the washington wizards a t-shirt on, the bullets. >> washington bullets. used to be the bullet. >> yeah. they have gone downhill.

from the bullits to the wizard. finally, lots of people love the smell of a freshly opened box of pizza earthens so much so they might wear it as a perfume. that notion started as a joke. >> never do that. >> i wouldn't either. >> started on pizza hut's facebook page awhile back and they are decided to go have fun with it as a joke in canada they have teamed up with a perfume maker making a limited edition pizza hut purerfume. they will give them away to fans on if a welcome back toing. >> you cannot have healthcare if you work there because it's so expensive. we are going to have frank rangeses with extra pepper own e. it literally smells like a big pizza? >> yes. >> fresh hot out of the oven. >> you walk into a pizza joint and say, this is what i want to

smell like all day long. right? >> if you do think that, you probably already do smell like that. >> that's true. >> that's right. i want to come back to this story about karl rove and dick morris. you have to be pretty bad when you are too bad for fox. you know what i mean? you cannot lower the bar any lower. >> it's just another great wrinkel in the story that is fox news. we found out this week not only that karl rove and dick morris, you know, they are so bad at what they do that they are not welcome on fox. >> they got everything wrong. >> right. >> dick morris, sherrod brown was going to look for a new job. bill nellso could never win in florida. barack obama was going to be trues trounced. >> how he is going to do the economy versus hillary. >> that's right. >> 24sthis hasis a guy who cannot make a preaddition to save his life.

news from bob woodward that fox news chief roger ailes sent an envoy in kt mcfarland who some people call a journalit. she ran for public office as a republican to, you know, former general david petraeus to try to get him to run against pompom and that the whole effort would be bank rolled by rupert murdoch. >> and roger ailes would be able to run his campaign. who says fox is not a political being? >> if you think about, it was the full circle argument against the president. fox news for 4 years has been saying that president obama is a fascist. maoist stalin, cartoonist pianist, every ist in the book, he is on isty he is not an american. and how do you compliment that one book end? you go out and find the picture perfect americana and roger

ailes and rupert murdoch thought a 4-star american war general, war hero from iraq was the perfect book end to that story. >> what they didn't realize was that david petraeus had other plans. >> that's right. >> i am not sure what those plans were. >> paula broad well. he said i have more important priorities herewell. he said i have more important priorities here. >> this is another example that will response news is not a news network. it is a political organization. >> let's accept it? >> reality. they should put it in miriam-webster. >> right now fox news is into of course, joining campaign to demand bob costas be fired or resign because after jovan belcher with the kansas city chiefs murdered his girlfriend killed himself, bob costas said if he hadn't had a gun, they might both still be alive today.

he did the bad thing. the nra says he waited -- didn't wait long enough before he talked about gun control. he spoke too soon. >> now is not the time. now is never the time. >> when is the time? >> it's never the time to talk about gun control when you are an nra nut job. i have been to more gun shows than probably just about any progressive. hundreds of gun shows. >> why? >> growing up, my father big nra guy, and i can tell you that there are plenty of sensible gun owners who would support more restrictions firearms from licensing to background checks to making sure that somebody yeah, and bob costas was expressing his opinions under the first amendment about the second amendment. and -- >> no. but you don't understand. he didn't wait long enough karl. >> i don't know how many shootings have to happen in

which we are told now is not the take to talk about this. you know, it never seems like any other tragedy stops the republicans from talking about anything they want to talk about. when the hurricane slammed the east coast, when there was an earthquake in village, for crying out loud it was the perfect opportune time to talk about cutting disaster relief but when there is a horrible tragedy delike this that involves a firearm, it's never time to talk about gun control. we are asking to have the conversation. >> karl fritsche our guest in studio, call him on twitter twitter @carlfritsche. or bull fight strategies.com. whether we are going to go off of the fiscal cliff. a lot are saying hell, let's go over the fiscal cliff and show the american people who is

responsible. >> unfortunately, democrats tend to be the responsible party in terms of actually wanting to governor. it's no surprise that when republicans are in power, government doesn't function well. >> they hate it. >> why would you make something operate well that you don't like? we have to remember why we are here. this is the piece of the story that is forgotten over and over again. the fiscal cliff is a creation of the republican party. had it not been for a republican party that was unwilling to grant this president an extension on the debt ceiling -- >> which every other president has been able to get in a bi-partisan fashion. >> absolutely. then we wouldn't be here right now. we would not be on the edge of the cliff. it's a precarious thing to negotiate around when you consider we might get thrown into a recession if we do go over it. but the more i watch the right, it the more it looks like something is going to have to budge over there. you look at the pugh poll that

came out yesterday. 53% of americans would blame republicans if we go over the cliff. only 26% would blame president obama. >> yeah. >> what do we knew about polling? that there are 20% of americans that will always side with republicans. george bush left office with a 20% hard-core approval rating. the iraq war seven years in had a 20% approval rating. so obviously it's that 20% that's blaming the president. >> exactly. carl fritsche here with us and your calls join the conversation at any time at 866-55-press. just getting started here on a wednesday morning, december 5th, the full court press. we will be right back. >> this is "the bill press show."

start you morning with a daily dose of politics from a fresh perspective. >>i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me. >>only on current tv. [ music ]

>> this is "the full court press: the bill press show," live on your radio and on current tv. >> it's 25 minutes after the hour, carl fritsche here as a friend of bill this entire hour. carl, always good to see you. >> good morning, bi. >> we will be joined by congressman steve israel from new york state. also, head of the democratic congressional campaign committee coming up in the next segment. peter, the wonderful world of twitter and welcome back toing. >> we are tweeting at bp show. fieptd us and follow us there. see what we are back to on the show. crystal sue says i would noter if bob costas would have gotten such grief if he talked about the domestic violence issues not just gun control. toya says thank you for saying

there are responsible gun owners. i am a gun owner and progressive. i think there should be restrictions. >> good point. i am glad that point was made. >> on what you should say to obama tonight, don't take a bad deal. keith jones says bill, you hit a homerun with your no deal remarks. i have a new respect for you after months of thinking you were an obama cheerleader. there you go follow us at bp show. >> talking about the fact the white house correspondents party tonight. i will be there. >> 23 you are not tongue-tied. when i went through that line, i remember trying to coryhoreograph it in my head. happy holidays president and he would say thank you, thank you. >> nod to mrs. obama and say

mrs. obama, and what ended up happening was entirely different. walked up, merry christmas, karl. i am like -- and i said to you as well, mr. president, mrs. obama. i supposed for the photo. he couldn't help thinking we got one shot. just one. my hand was just a little too low on michelle obama's back. i put my arms around them. because i thought it would be too awkward with my arms by my side. as the picture gets taken, it was where was your hand? i had to wait eight weeks to find out it was just this side of being appropriate. >> oh, man. >> i wish you hadn't told that story. >> now, he is going to try to up you. wait until you see his picture. >> now i am nervous. no, i am going to be ready. i am going to have -- i will

have a card. i will read from the teleprompter. he will understand that. right? >> this is "the bill press

show." >> this is "the bill press show," live on your radio and current tv. >> thirty-three minutes after the hour now the full court press on this wednesday, december 5th, coming to you life from our nation's capitol brought to you today by ascme, the largest public employeeune care union. under president lee saunders making america happen. find out more at afscme.org.

carl frisch of bull fight strategies stopping bio his way to work this morning. a good friend of bill congressman from the state of new york, head of the democratic congressional campaign committee, last time around and yet again, congressman steve israel. >> good to it be here. >> i guess p whatever it is. condolences. you know, i must say, now as well as all of us the one disappointment, november 6th we didn't get back control of the house, we picked up in the end how many seats? >> picked up eight seats. most of the pundits and prognosticators and propheciers said we would lose seats. 49 new mercy, for the first time in the history of the united states we have a minority/majority. women, african-americans,

latinos, glbt. we are problem solvers. still work to do. >> in california big victories, three or four? >> did well in california. i think the important thing is we rolled back the tea party tide. allen west defeated joe walsh. the tea party flag bearers were defeated because people in this country wanted slushingsz not extremism extremism. we ran tough, smart, well-resourced campaigns about solutions. those tea party flag bearers are going south. >> almost $20 million in his house campaign, bill. patrick murphy spent 4 and a half. >> that's a lot of money to spend and lose. a good deal there? >> by changing districts? >> redistricting. >> and the other day he come

compared himself to abraham lincoln. >> he saw the movie and said, that's me. >> no. yeah. >> we wish hitch well. frankly the country is doing better because he will not be in the united states congress. he was not about solutions. this was a guy who said that the majority of democrats in congress are communists. this guy was living in the 1950s. people want solutions for 2012. >> if only steve king were on that list for those we said good-bye to. we came close. next time. next time. meanwhile, you say that the tea party influence is waning. i guess we will see on the one big issue facing the congress right now, so here is the situation, as the president points out and he did yesterday to bloomberg news, the senate by a bi-partisan vote has said we are going to extend the tax cuts for 98% of americans. income up to $250,000 a year. president obama says, go the pen

ready. i will sign it. all it needs is a vote in the house of representatives. why won't john boehner schedule a vote. >> because he is willing to hold the middle class hostage so that he can get tax cuts for people doing extremely well. >> top two % sglfrnings ton 2 percent. for billionaires and multi-millionaires. we have a way out of this. the way out of it is simple common sense. the president is right. you are correct. the president, the pen is ready to sign a tax cut for every american on the first $250,000 of income. every american. the senate has passed that bill. john boehner is holding the middle class hostage. here is what we are willing to do. yesterday, we offered what's called a discharge petition. it simply says if you can get a majority of members to sign that discharge petition john boehner must bring that fo-$50 tax cut to the -- that 250,000 dollar tax cut to the floor. 27 republicans to sign that

discharge petition to make sure that the middle class doesn't get hurt, that they can do their holiday shopping with the certainty of knowing how much is going to be on their paycheck with january 1st. help wanted 27 republicans to sign that petition. the only skill necessary is principles. we are waiting for those republicans to sign that petition. this is so frustrating. everybody agrees. everybody in washington agrees that minimally, we should get tax cuts for people on the first $250,000. i think it ought to be higher if you are in districts like mine i ig it ought to be higher. but i don't want to punish somebody making $240,000 to hold out for somebody making 350,000. everybody agrees on it. sign the pigs pass bill -- sign the bill, it could be signed today. >> do i recall 218? >> a simple majority. >> if every democrat signs presumebly? >> 27 republicans. >> 27 republicans. you would think, it's like

diogenese with the lamp looking for an honest man. >> i like how the congressman thought he could apply logic to the republican caucus. >> like it's hard, you know for the republicans to apply math to this deal. >> math withhad as a quantifiable liberal bias. john boehner's proposeals is based upon the 2 plus 2 is whatever you want it to equal. >> so, you would think they are not all tea party members. right? there has to be 27. i hope i am not on another planet here out of all of that couple of hundred republicans, there have to be 27 who have the decency. right? to give the middle classes a tax cut or the honesty to know this is bad for our party if we don't. this is one of those things where i can tell you that there are at least 27 republicans who want to vote on this. they are skittish about what's happening. they know republicans are forcing the middle class over the cliff and they are going to have to defend tax cuts for everybody on january 1st. there are republicans who want

this bill on the floor. but john boehner and eric cantor and the leadership of the congress, they are holding out and they are holding out for tax cuts for billionaires and willing to hurt the middle class and it's simply not at septemberable >> bill: the lead article in "the new york times" front page this morning is jonathan whitesman's story, g.o.p. looks for fallback to avoid a fiscal stand oint. jonathan quoting some unnamed republicans who feel, who know that if this happens, if we get toian one and tax rates have gone up for everybody, including the 98% of americans, that's $2,000 a year, that everybody is going to blame the republicans are going to get the blame. more and more, he said privately republicans are saying, we can't let this happen to us. do you think we have the makings of a resolution at least on that issue? >> i wish we did. you know, we have offered a compromise. it is simply common sense. pass what you can agree on and continue to debate what you can't agree on. we have this extremism these republicans who are more

concerned with keeping their promise to grover norquisto than to upholding their oath to help the middle class. i remain worried they will bring this thing to the end. if they have to push this economy off a cliff in order to protect billionaires, many are willing to do it. >> it didn't last long? did it? karl, last week, all the big story was four or five said we are ready. >> a few got removed from committees and everybody was back in line. >> they come out with this plan that john boehner basically is saying, no, no no. we are still -- grover is still calling the shots. he is. right? >> january 3rd, the new congress comes into session. some will raise our hands and take our oath to the constitution. others will take their oath to grover norquist. >> coom meeting ceremonies. >> grover, you know, the temple

on 16th street. >> maybe the capitol grill, k street. it's unbelievable. >> carnalishment this is something i hope you can get in the debate is why we are here in the first lace that republicans put us on the path to the fiscal cliff by not doing what congress -- dozens of congresses have done, which is to extend the debt limit, not spend more money on getting into debt. >> that's to pay the interest on the debt we already 0. >> that's exact right. >> we are here right now, this republican, you know, fiscal cliff because they forced us to be here because they wouldn't do the responsible thing in 2011. >> exactly. look, we are here because the republicans did what no family may america would do, they took out the credit card. they put expenses on that credit card and decided we don't want to pay what we owe. these were their decisions. history is interesting but it's not going to get us away from

this cliff. what will is pass the petition now. we can argue history later. give the middle class a break get the 218 signatures. there is not a single middle class american who will have to worry about whether they will have the money in their pay checks on january 1st to pay for the holiday gifts they bought in december. >> i know you have to go but there is one thing i would love to get your comment on, republicans are insisting what they call entitlesment reform, which we know means gutting social security has to be on the table as well. there are some strong voices for not touching social security. i would like to play one for you right now and get your comments. this will congressman goes back to 1984. >> social security has nothingto to do with the deficit. social security is totally funded by the payroll tax levied on employer and employee. if you reduce the outgo of social security, that money would not go into the general fund to reduce a deficit. it would go into the social

security trust fund. so social security has nothing to do with balancing a budget or erasing or lowering the deficit. >> ronald reagan's debate with walter mondale in 1984. >> i call it selective fawning. they love to quote ronald reagan but when he says something sensible, they disassociate. he is absolutely correct. one of the things the boehner proposal does is reduces social security benefits so if you are making a billion dollars, you get your tax cut but if you are an 85-year-old social security recipient, you get a social security cut. how is that fair? >> if only they would listen to ronald reagan and raise taxes when necessary and get their grum -- grimey hands off social security, we would all be better off. congressman steve israel, you are doing a great job. thanks for coming in. all right? back at the dccc. good for you? >> thank you. >> on your radio and on current

tv this is "the bill press show." [ music ]

[ music ] >> the bill bres show on current tv. >> before the top of the hour here on the full court press, in the next hour meredith shiner from roll call will be here as a friend of bill will be called by the nation's sports editor and our own sports bureau dave zirin to talk a little bit more about bob costas carl frisch here from bull fight strategies as a friend of bill and karl

good to have you with us? >> good morning. >> the great world of bull fight strategies, everything trucking along? you and eric burns? >> fighting a good fight. >> fighting bulls here in washington. >> figuratively. >> joe biden, literally out of the deep blue sky >> bill: peter ogburn back with us. what's happening on the world of twitter. >> good stuff out there, paula tweeting in after our conversation we just had with steve israel. had he said how i hate i was redistrict out of steve israel's district. i am now represented by peter king. yikes. >> paula move: man. talk about going from one of the best to one of the worst. >> find us @bpshow on twitter. >> bill: it's pretty clear from talking with steve israel and just watching the debate over

this fiscal cliff that when it comes to the middle class, republicans don't give a rat's ass. right? >> they are pull yourself up by your boot straps even if you can't afford boots. they don't care if you are poor. it's your fault. when mitt romney said the 47% comment and when he was recovered on that finance call after losing the election saying that, you know, obama will be giving out presents to people and you had some serious people in the room and say mitt romney is wrong. he shouldn't be saying this. >> that's not how we feel they certainly govern like they feel that way. you can listen to talk shows and hear anybody underscore what mitt romney's sentiment was but as far as congress was, republicans gone like mitt romney talks. >> yeah. >> they have no qualms making it

clear that they believe that they are a much of moochers out there and that they shouldn't be helping anybody. >> we know they don't care about the middle class. yesterday, on the floor of the united states senate, they also proved they don't care about the disabled people. here is bob dole a man i love a general american war hero. he is very funny, a wicked sense of humor and he was the author of the americans for disabilities act. >> tom harkin. >> back in 1990. george h.w. bush signed it. so you have a united nations treaty that does nothing more than encourage other nations to take the americans for disabilities act that we passed here and give disabled people and their country the same rights they have in the united states. you would think that's a no-brainer? right. >> cory booker is doing this thing in new jersey, living on food stamps roughly $4 a day to experience what that's like. i wish anybody could experience what it's like to be a disabled

american. >> look at bob dole, the poo guy with his war wounds, he couldn't even comb his hair. >> but he was still mobile. he is in a wheelchair on the floor. can you imagine please-ada pre-americans with disabilities act living in a wheelchair. >> trying to get around. >> before it got to the point where it would be easy to manufacture a car with a ramp or, you know, controls all in the steering column. >> or even sidewalks at the corners where you have the -- >> gentleman, or the bells telling you, you can cross and it's safe. before, we had the ada. these things were -- >> exactly. to get to the point, please endorse the treaties so others can do for their nations what we have done for ours. one by one his republican colleagues patted him on the back and then stabbed him in the back and voted down the treaty because rick santorum and mike

lee say, no, this means the united nations will tell us homeschoolers what we have to do with our kids. it doesn't add up. >> absolutely ridiculous. rick santorum, you know first of all, as a gay man, he is a guy that thinks about gay sex more than i do but this is a man who does not have either foot in reality. and for anybody to listen to what he has to say, it's just ridiculous. you can easily protect homeschoolers. they are not suffering anything because of the ada right now. >> the united nations would never have any jurisdictions? >> you are not thinking like a republican. whenever the word "united nations" is used the sinynapss in the republican brain turn to some weird european looking military force that has invaded the country. >> one heavily world government the blue helmets in the streets

of memphis or maybe in the streets of wherever rick santorum is. >> concentration camps for conservatives, you know, with fema. >> karl, always fun to have you in the studio. thank you. i guess you are back on a plane to the west coast now. right? >> eventually, yeah, for the holidays maybe. >> for the holidays. all right. we will see you again soon. thank you for coming in. i will come back and tell you tell you what the president has on schedule before he says hello to me tonight at the whitehouse. >> this is "the bill press show." perspective. >>i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me. >>only on current tv.

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your radio and on current tv. >> in the next hour should bob costas have to apologize? should he have to resign because he dared mention gun control room sunday night? he will join us and dave zirin will give us his take on that in the next hour. meredith meredithshiner scheiner, daily briefing this morning at 9:15 after the end of our show. about 11:00 o'clock, he will join members of the round table at the business roundtable at the whitehouse to get their comments from america's business leaders as to what should happen in the fiscal cliff negotiations then then this afternoon he travels about 5.

he will host house members, some of us of the white house press corps for the christmas reception, jay carney's briefing at 12:30. >> this is bill press show.

>> good wednesday morning to all of you fellow americans and welcome to the "full-court press," your progressive morning show the only progressive morning show on national television, good to have you with us this morning and we will bring you up to date on what's happening, the little bit that's going on here in our nation's

capitol, lots of talk not much action. rest of the news, most importantly give you a cans to sound off, take your call at 866-55-press, news on the media front this morning, word out that fox news has decided that they are going to put on the shelf karl rove and dick morris. no wonder, they are the biggest snakes in american politics plus they got everything wrong during campaign. so who would trust them about anything anymore? pretty bad. got to be pretty bad when you are too extreme for fox news. that and a lot more here but first action let's start off with the latest today's current news update from lease a ferguson out in los angeles. hi, lease a. good morning. >> hey, bill. good morning, everyone. a couple of former romney surrogates are setting themselves up as frontrunners for 2016, paul ryan and marco rubio are both distancing

themselves from romney and his 47% remark and instead calling on the republican party to focus on struggling americans. both men spoke at last last night's award ceremony for the jack kemp foundation. ryan warned against classifying people into our voters and their voters and rubio said america has a fundamental promise to provide opportunities to the middle class. meanwhile, democrats are asking pour something from president obama, his contact list. about 16 million voters volunteered and donors gave the president a strong edge this november. obama for america is working to continue using that database during the president's next term asking them to support him on legislative issues. although know decisions are made, jim messina has previously said the list will not be passed onto the next democratic nominee. no official word on who president obama will appoint as his next secretary of state, but he did tell bloomberg he plans

on having a strong national security team. >> i am going to make a decision about who is going to be the best secretary of state, given, we've got a changing world, and there are great opportunities for the united states to show leadership around the world. >> more bill is up after break. sta stay with us. alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. did you get chips for the party? nope. cheese plate? cheese plate...nope. i made something better. ♪ ♪ you used the oven? boom ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] pillsbury crescents.

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[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio [ music ] >> broadcasting across the in case, on your radio and on current tv this is "the bill press show". >> bill: president obama telling bloomberg news yesterday one more time, there will be no deal, no deal unless tax cuts go up for the wealthiest of americans. good morning everybody. happy wednesday, december 5th this is the "full-court press" coming to you live on your

progressive talk radio station. how lucky you are if you have one and on current tv. good to see you today. and thanks for joining us. we give you a chance. what's most importantly about our time together every morning is giving you a chance to sound off on the issues. we want to hear from you what this all means to you and to your family, what's going on here in our nation's capitol around the country, around the globe, wherever. you can sound off by giving us a call at 8 sys 6-55 you-press or following us on twitter @bpshow or on facebook at facebook.com/bill press show. anyway you join the conversation at any time and this morning, how much fun? how much more fun could there be than joining the conversation with meredith shiner who covers congress to the extent that there is anything to cover. for roll call. a newspaper. >> roll call. >> what's up roll call?

role tide roll call. good to see you. >> it's great to see you. i red on politico.com that you are a really big deal now. >> politico. >> in my two years in politico i was not as cool as you were and with one article. >> one article. >> i point out, it was a big article on a very slow news day o thanksgiving. right? >> he will take it. >> what are you going to do? talk about a turk e. >> all right. >> i was watching the show earlier when i was getting ready to come over and i heard you reading an e-mail in which a listener and/or viewer called you an idiot and dan cut you off before you got deep into explaining how you felt this way. >> bill: the guy, in the e-mail, he said he would explain more about why you was an idiot but he thought he would be wasting his time. >> if i had a dollar for every time a reader thought i was an idiot, i would maybe have a profitable career as a journalist >> peter: we welcome all

commenters >> bill: we do. >> it keeps you grounded, i think. >> bill: peter ogburn and dan henning, team press here. >> good morning. >> happy wednesday. >> phil bachus has the phones covered and cyprian bowlding keeps us oncam camera camera. >> were you there >> 40 minutes late and for whatever reason, i am envious, obsessed with christmas lights. i was sitting behind the bob dole balcony waiting for them to light the trees. >> you waited for the whole thing? >> it was one of the things i got so deep into i had to see it through. have you ever gotten one of those? >> really waiting for were john boehner's inspirational remarks at the lighting. >> i couldn't hear a thing. great. >> we will bring lights to the tree that flourishes as a symbol of everlasting life.

and in turn this tree will bring light to us opening our hearts a little more than to the needs of our neighbors. >> bill: it's time to light up. >> would you liberals stop the war on christmas? the man is just trying to connect with the holiday spirit action and you guys are laughing at him. >> maybe one line. >> i thought they had this brilliant orange glow to the tree t turns out that was actually just boehner walking up to light the tree. it was just him. come on. i am a jerk for making a joke about it? glenn then he had some help lighting the tree. again, you were too far away. got an eagle scout up to do the countdown and push the button. here he goes. >> 3, 2, 1. [crowd cheers ] >> good job. >> i think that that is the audio clip.

that way at the end, you can play it. >> good job. good job. >> good job. give me another drink? >> i love the christmas tree. i am so not on your team. did you hear about the exhibitwhere they had the chinese pyrotechnic artist? >> i was there. >> i wanted to see it t people were hate okay that, too. >> they blew up a tree. >> the most amazing thing is they set up 2000 fireworks around the tree and the tree was intact. this is the same guy who did the fireworks for the bayeijing olympics and displaced at a few muse musems. >> was john boehner there? >> they don't want to. thefumes that come off of john boehner are flammable. >> should have been john boehner. >> meredith is a friend of bill. dame zirin, the nation's magazine sports editor. meredith, we want to find out what's happening, if anything, on the hill. but first, this is the

"full-court press"." >> dan with the big stories of the day. >> barbara walters leaked the first name of one of this year's most fascinating people. the show airs next week on abc. it is honey booboo. >> the tlc toddlers and tiaras beauty queen will be part of the special. no word who else will be on that list. >> how dare you reveal the names. this is the biggest suspense of the year. who will barbara walters name? i could care less. >> last year kim kardashian. all three sisters. that did not go over well they said they need more serious people on the list. now you have them, honey boo-boo. >> walters jumped a sharks in 1790. >> i would like to be employed, continue to be employed. i don't have luxury of my own

radio show yet. >> plenty of lawmakers have done the flood stamp challenge. mayor cory booker tweeted a photograph showing he spent $29 and $0.78 on what he will eat for the next week. food stamp recipients on average spend $28 a week. he is a vegetarian. he does not have to buy any meat. >> i heard on twitter he is eating lettuce for breakfast. 20 seconds to talk about how he would hate being a senator. every time someone talks about how he should run for senate, he is one of those people who would just despise the senate, i think. >> i had snap peas and let us for breakfast. >> looking for salt. >> yeah. we have had members of congress in here going on food stamps. >> that's pretty serious stuff. >> yeah. tough. one big name holylywood actors warrantspom it sep 16, samuel l. jackson in an interview says he thinks michelle obama is quote

super woman and could easily be the first female president and if not, he wants to see her on the supreme court. he can think that all he wants. the first lady will not listen. she has denied any interest in running for higher. >> thank you samuel l. jackson, for political insight. >> yesterday or like this week in the middle east, there was an emergency landing of a plane because of a snake on the plane. samuel jackson is coming into prominence again. cnn squeezed samuel jackson into the lead, of course. america. 14 minutes. before we get to the fiscal cliff which is occupying most of our time here in washington, d.c. yesterday was am -- you wrote about this. a very sad day in the history of the united states senate and it all had to do with an appearance by bob dole. a week ago, we were being told that bob dole was so infirmed he might not make it.

>> sometimes things aren't necessarily true. he is not in good health. he is 89. he was wheeled in to the senate chamber by his wife former senate elizabeth dole. i have to say i have been covering the senate and/or congress now for three years and they have been three very long years in terms of what the senate has done and what they vent done, and it was by far the most remarkable thing i have ever seen because -- i think this does relate to the fiscal cliff because it shows the divide right now between the republican party and just how problematic it is for them to move forward on things. >> on anything. >> yeah. i just -- >> dole was there for what reason? >> so it was very clear that this treaty was on the brink of failure. >> united nations treedy for disabilities. >> so basically the premise of this treaty is to take the 10 answers of americans with disabilities act and extend it internationally. >> urging all neighborhoods

united nations cannot force any nation to do it but basically, it turns all nations to say here is a great law that works in the united states of america. you ought to do the same thing. >> ironically republicans have opposed taking american values and spreading them internationally. so they had bob dole who again is 89 and in failing health and rolled him on to the floor hoping it would inspire colleagues. you saw something different in the healthcare votes and rob ret bird who was 93 and clearly not in good health. so i was in the chamber in washington. you can't have any digital devices. you sit and you observe. and it was remarkable and touching how one by one, these senators were coming up to dole and gently placing their hands on his shoulders or, you know collapsing his hand and then they waited for him to get wheeled out and they voted against him. and something that i noted in the story. >> unbelievable. >> sick. >> sick. >> and the thing that i think was most revealing, what i wrote, two things very revealing

about this. one, when they call a role call vote, usually people vocal eyes or verbalize their yeas and nays. some of the old brand republican senators would whisper their vote to the clerk or would hand gesture because they didn't want the audio of them voting against this. if you are going to vote against it, vote against it. >> man up and vote against. >> so i think the key votes ended up being thad cochran originally voted to support and when he was clear they weren't going to garner the 66 votes. he is up for 2014 and so the other co file would have been lindsey graham lamar alexander. >> lindsey graham. >> three people fearful of being primaries in the right. this isn't an issue that would come up in a primary campaign and basically, you had glenn beck and rick santorum trying to say that this was going to

change american policy when that was not what the treaty said. and there are members who are so fearful of being primaried that they are not going to live their legislative lives. if you cannot pass a disabilities treaty because there are conservative radio talk show hosts who think that giving disabled vehicle the same kind of rights asable-bodied people will create some sort of insurgency, i just -- i don't even know what to do with that. >> i am telling you, these are flat-earthers. they are birthers. >> they are not going to see bob dole again. i was at the republican leadership stakeout yesterday and they have a lot of members who come to the stableout. mcconnell, thune, kyl and barrasso. to john brasso. 's credit, he said i am a doctor. i have seen the kinds of troubles that people with disabilities have. i co-sponsored the bill. i voted for it out of committee. i was go to vote for it.

yes get called on although i tried to ask him, senator barasso, you voted in favor of this treaty supported on the floor by former leader robert dole. are you disappointed in your colleagues? i asked him afterwards. he wouldn't go there. he said members would reserve -- could reserve their rights. but he, like some of the other representatives who were supportive of the treat couple kelly ayotte who put out a message debunking and when i tried to press lamar alexander who ordinarily wol have voted for a bill like this or at least in my experience would have, the statement from the his office was, well, it's not the right time to be talking about this treaty. we should be focusing on the fiscal cliff. >> what a copout. you said earlier, and i want to talk more about this when we come back from the break, there is a connection between this? >> yes, there is. >> and negotiations on the

fiscalcliff because to me, you can make more but to me certainly in the media connection, if this is the gang that you are could you tell counting on to exercise any common sense or any sense of decency about the middle class, let's just do the right thing and it may be make sure their taxes don't go up, you are count on the wrong gang. this gang couldn't come together at the request of one of their former leaders and a great american to say disabled people ought to have the same rights in other countries than in the unites states, if they can't agree on how. >> people talk about how the tea party has certaintaken over. it and they use the name bob dole. he could get things done. it seems like that era is long gone. >> made a very powerful point. they will never see him on the floor on the senate again. that was their goodbye to him. bob, thanks for coming by. stab you in the back. meredith shiner here as a friend of bill from roll call, back to

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hungry for it. [ music ] >> heard around the country and seen on current tv this is "the bill press show". >> you got it. 25 minutes after the hour dave zirin from the nation joining us and meredith shiner as a friend of bill this hour and the twitter comments meredith keep rolling in. >> yeah. >> we are tweeting@bpshow. find us there to see what we are talking about eric brewton says what does it say about a political party when they vent

vote for a bill to help the disabled. i said the g.o.p. should be embarrassed for how they treated bob dole. the g.o.p. is incapable of being embarrassed. look at romney santorum cain. five of bob dole's best friends will always have to remember that they all voted no to his face. live with it. >> so meredith shiner, on the fiscal cliff. >> yes, sir. >> there are a lot of different pieces of it and it can get very complicated, but it can also get boiled down to kind of one first step which the president keeps pointing out. he says, let's just start on what we all agree on. we all agree taxes should not go up for the middle class. so we have a bill that's already passed the senate. it wasn't a filibuster. beefs partnership everybody will get a tax cut on the first $250,000 worth of income for 98% of americans more than they would ever need for a tax cut.

the president said the senate says i have my pen. i am ready to sign it. all we need is a vote in the house. why won't that take place? >> trying to get enough signatures for a discharge. >> getting ahead of yourself? >> yeah. >> why no vote? >> it's complicated. i think that what we are seeing now is not any sort of real negotiation. it is a battle of messaging to try to secure aparticular victories. one of the most interesting things about this entire debate is we are focused on the tax season. this is what people feel in their pockets. i think one-of the biggest issues that the white house has to think about is the debt ceiling because last time in the lame duck, they didn't take the republican threat seriously they weren't going to raise it. they thought that that was a lot of hot air on the campaign trail from people like michelle bachmann. it wasn't. if they don't raise the debt ceiling now and they come up

with any sort of agreement, john boehner can come to them. >> you are getting ahead of me. i don't want to get off of this tax cut so easily. you are right. it's a battle of messaging. how did haven't the republicans lost the message on this? first of all, they had an election and they lost. >> that's why it hasn't happened. >> the pew poll said if taxes go up for most americans on january 1st, republicans are going to get the blame. why don't they schedule a damn vote and just say some republicans have said and just do this and get it done? >> i think john boehner is hyper aware of all of the issues and the consequences of what could possibly happen and right now they are digging in. i think particularly so they can tell their base that they tried because if they didn't, if they just caved nowtion i think that there would be questions to leadership and they don't want to deal with that. >> will they cave eventually? >> ummm. it's hard to say. i think so but again, look to what the debt ceiling is. if they can get the debt ceiling

raised by broadening the tax base, the white house might agree to do it. >> meredith shiner, we are just getting started. we will carry more on the other side and talk to james zirin as well, too. >> this is "the bill press show." [ music ] i've never seen anything like this. >> when disaster strikes sometimes the only way out is to look within. current tv digs deep into the extraordinary tales of heroism determination and escape. "trapped" experience the drama. back to back to back. >> hold on mates! >> catch the "trapped" mini-marathon saturday starting at 1 eastern. on current tv.

[ music ] >> chatting with you live at current.com/billpress, this is "the bill press show," live on your radio and current tv >> bill: all right. 33 minutes after the hour, wednesday, december 5th, the full court press, merideth shiner from roll call is here as a friend of bill this hour with our regular team press, and we are talking everything from

politics to media, karl rove and dick morris getting thrown off of fox news, at least for a while, to sports. >> or sport as mitt romney likes to call it >> bill: everyone in between. we talked the other day with good friend dave zirin, editor of "sports magazine," murder/suicide of jovan bullcher asking whether the kansas city chiefs should have played that game and whether there might be any history of head injury on the field that would contribute to this kind of behavior. since since then, more controversy around this call, which is the fact that sports commentator, a little legendary bob costas raised the issue of gun control in the wake of this. now, some people are demanding he resign or be fired because he did not wait long enough. he spoke too soon about gun control after this incident.

dave zirin by our demand popular demand, comes back this morning. >> great to be here, bill. >> bill: how long should bob costas have waited before he talked about gun control or should he not have mentioned the word gun at all? >> dave: that they waited two hours after killing his wife and two hours later, the n.f.l. was telling the carolina panthers to make sure they had better be on the plane to get to kansas city for the game, i am not the sure how anyone can criticize bob costas for not waiting a respectful enough time to talk about the issues surrounding this tragedy. >> bill: one of which is the fact he had a gun. right? and was able to use it? >> zirin: all of the guns legally in the house. let me put all of my cards on

the table here from the very beginning. i absolutely respect and defend bob costas's right to speak about this issue. frankly, i think that the decision of fox and cbs to not mention the issue at all, not to mention -- they didn't mention cas andra perkin's name or javon belcher's name. there was oblique reference to the suicide before the game. fox chose not to mention it at all. the fact that on nbc obvious costas had a real discussion about it, i thought, was brave and admirable, specifically because i don't think fox realized to not talk about it is a political choice, too. you are saying something about perspective, something about the value of human life all of that being said he had 90 seconds to say whatever he could say about the issue.

but, if i would have had those 90 seconds, i am not sure that's the key issue for a very simple reason. the problem is certainly gun culture in the broad senses. there is a huge gun culture in the national football league. if a person wants one, they are going to get one legally, illegally, what-have-you. this is an issue more about the national football league and their accountability. there is a small part of me that thinks in the league offices they are breathing a sigh of relief that it's a discussion about gun control and not about the violent culture in the national football league. >> bill: that's interesting. meredith? >> we were talking about this at break because i think this is something that is writ large whether it's sports or politics the idea that the only way to get a tension is compressed mediums, a tweet or 90 seconds bob costas had and since this interview, he gave another interview talking about the comments. he said his one regret is he violated his rule to take a new

answered issue and try to weigh it out in too short of a period of time. and so i am wondering if this speaks larger more largely about what we do as a media and there is a lot of overlap between sports and political media and whether we are criticizing the wrong thing. >> that's a great point, meredith. i really do believe 90 seconds is certainly not enough time to talk about a tragedy in this magnitude and all of the things that it means. i am disappointed bob costas gave two follow-up interviews after he said what he said >> bill: i was, too. >> zirin: the first was to bill carter of "the new york times" where he was standing strong. i am bob costas and i shall not be moved. >> once i was in basketball. >> after that, he was like a tree standing by the water. by the next one, the tree had come unrooted a little bit. bob got a little bit squishy on

it, and i think this comes with frankly, it's very interesting, like one of the things that bill moi moyers says it's not like corporations like the n.f.l. in this case, it's not like they are making phone calls to people saying don't talk about it. back down, you know, that kind of expressit pressure. it's more like the bill moyers talks about the abstract parameters around journalists where they sense where the boundaries are supposed to be for respectable discourse. you don't need that kind of crack of the whip. it's internalized by the journalists, themselves. i'm sorry. go ahead. >> i was going to say, when i was looking forward to talking about this and i am glad you are here, when i looked and saw bob costas had given this follow-up, the second interview, i was disappointed because i have been in that situation never with this high a profile, myself before you say something, and, you know, you have got to stick

to your -- well, i started to say -- >> i hear you. >> bill: you have to stand up and not back down. right? i think people respect you for more that. >> zirin: i agree. >> to listen before you critique. i watched the speech because i watch a little bit of football. i thought the one questionable thing he said, his kicker, if not for guns then this wouldn't have happened. i think that you can't make that assertion but you can talk about guns and gun control. our politicians don't. >> exactly. >> democrats believe strongly. >> right. when? so the nri, la pierre says he didn't wait long enough. when is the right time to talk about gun control room with the nra? never? i am waiting for michael bloomberg. he is looking for ways to get back into the media. >> i must say all of us involved in the media here, it's one thing to say, you only had 90

seconds, you should have waited until you had more time. how long how often do any of us have more than 90 seconds? i started out in television doing 90-second commentaries on the evening news in los angeles, you know. i never had more than 90 seconds to make a point. most of us don't. >> millions of people watch it. >> 90 seconds sounds like it might sound like a chunk of time to some people but in the media, that's a lifetime. to have that kind of real estate to make your point especially on a sports broadcast, you don't get that >> bill: on the network, you are going to get 60 seconds, 90 seconds and you are out, baby. you have if he mike it. >> the n.f.l. is one of the worst leagues and let me tell you the leagues aren't great. dave could speak to this. they don't treat their players and former players that well. the way the contract is set up, if you get injured, you are done. and after your career, which by the way, it's a violent and brutal sport the kind of healthcare that these players need is not there.

>> bill: david has talked about that and written about that. >> zirin: absolutely. absolutely, and i thought this was a moment. if you have 90 seconds of prime-time real estate on the number 1 television show in all of the nielsen writings, the enough 1, the last three years -- the number 1, forget about "american idol," you can use those 90 seconds. you could do it in 30 seconds. you could just say, you know what? this is the fourth suicide that's taken place in the national football league in the last year. the suicide rate of n.f.l. players is six times the national average of people in their age group. when is the n.f.l. going to finally, answer for these questions? when are we as a country going to speak about this in a way that's open and honest with our eyes wide open? i am bob costas. thank you. >> there you go. the 30 seconds. what do we have? >> peter: one of the things i do on the rare occasion when i actually sit down to watch sports is to open up the twitter

machine and go to @edgeofsports where dave is tweeting. one we got @bpshow, joe snow says if costas has to resign so should goodell for allowing the tbow pro life message last year a political message. >> interesting point. i don't think anybody should have to resign. we all have the right to be political. too often we think the only people who have the right to be political are the people on capitol hill. it's like sports is a medium. a lot of people just read the sports page, not the front page. the javon belcher story is extremely political. the idea we don't talk about it that's a political choice when you choose to decontext annualize something that was such a horrible tragedy. >> you are the best

best @edgeofsports. dave, twice in one week, how blessed we are. >> i am a big fan of meredith's work. >> thank you. the feeling is mutual. >> bill: there you go. okay. dave zirin from "the nation," whom we have adopted. it's a great deal. " all right. full "the full court press" on this wednesday, december 5th. stay with us. >> this is "the bill press show." [ music ] unleashed. joy behar. >> on my next show, dr. ruth answers all your questions about sex. i mean the ones you can say on tv of course, on say anything.

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>> this is "the full court press: the bill press show," live on your radio and on current tv. >> 13 missed before the top of the hour here, meredith shiner "the roll call." you can follow her @rollcall.com or better yet on twitter twitter @meredithshiner. somebody like peter follows your tweets and let's you know what you are saying. >> peter: this is my gig. i follow tweets to bill and read them on air. i am looking to branch out. >> can you do part-time personal assistant duties? >> peter: totally. you can see me make a latte, mixing it up perfectly. >> bill: so i happen to know that a good friend of mine a member of congress called him yesterday, because i wanted to invite him to a party thursday night. he said, no, i am going back to california on wednesday. they stayed over the weekend,

monday they had absolutely no votes. yesterday, they had maybe one, i think. today, they have maybe one and they go home tonight and then they are not coming back until next tuesday. >> your congress at work. >> bill: exactly. what the hell is going on? the world thinks there are serious negotiations about a fiscal cliff. are there any fiscal negotiations -- serious negotiations going on? >> those are two issues. rank and file members are not going to be at the table. >> bill: is anybody? >> two dudes -- i can't believe i just said two dudes and you guys were going to let that slide. two dudes having a good time. let me gather myself. no. i don't know. i think there must be. usually what happens in negotiations like this is they sit down and find pieces that might be acceptable to this larger puzzle from previous

negotiations and trust me, we have had quite a few. they are trying to find nominees and a menu of options to present to leaders who are eventually going to have to negotiate, one of the things that's interesting to point out -- >> >> bill: is that happening? >> i think so because think about this. right before thanksgiving the big four leaders met at the whitehouse with the president and from all accounts that was a very positive meeting. it was a productive meeting. >> bill: they different do anything? >> suddenly, suddenly there was no agreement there. there is no progress. this is theater. this is what with he we see every time. it's frustrating. >> yeah. >> it seems nothing is going on except posturing: i think there might be a difference between public posturing and what's happening behind closed doors because -- >> >> bill: something else. >> yes. >> everybody says this morning, 27 days because this is the 5th.

27 or six days, 21st. the deadline is not december 31st. you have you have christmas. you have new year's. it takes time if they are going to have an agreement to write a bill the deadline is really maybe like around the 15th or the 20th? >> depending upon how often, how they want to look how hard they are working. congress is scheduled to go out on the 21st. >> bill: yeah. >> we have these countdown clocks for this. i know you hear people talking about the cliff or the slope or what kind of incline is it? this is obviously something that's impactful and will have an effect on americans and will make ire average american nervous. it's not just going to suddenly be january 1st and our world will implode. it reminds me of y2k and people were worrying the world wouldn't look the same. this isn't going to all hit at once. this discretionary spending cuts, which, by the way, many republicans voted for as part of the budget control act agreement.

those are going to happen over the course of 10 years. the last thing i would want to point out because i have been thinking about this a lot lately, if republicans believe the deficit reduction and economic growth is the same thing, which has been the key underpinnings of their message since the budget control room act, they should be welcoming the fiscal cliff because if fiscal cliff happens we will put $5 trillion toward the deficit and under the logic they have been promoting for two years, that is a good thing but they know that it's not. they understand real economics but their understanding of that is not matching with their actions. and to me, that's the most fascinating part. >> bill: so, we come back to and i asked you whether or not you thought there was going to be a deal. you are not comfortable that there will be? >> i hope deeply cynical. that should be the caveat to this. i think if there is any sort of agreement, what it will look like is some sort of immediate agreement to handle taxes

because the tax cuts are important because people feel them in their pocket. >> for up to $250,000 or something? >> then there will be a frankwork whether it's instructing max bachus and dave camp to try to attack tax code reform or to deal with things on entitlements, whether or not that second phase ever happens, we have seen a lot of times where the second phase causes uneasiness. we wouldn't talk about this if it wasn't for the super committee, if the white house's last lame duck had negotiated raising the debt ceiling as part of their overall strategy because basically, they traded a payroll tax cut for the bush-era tax cuts unbelievable for democrats >> bill: i am totally convinced president obama will never, never, never extend the tax cuts for the wealthiest americans again. >> he did it before. >> not this time. not this time. meredith shiner, always good to have you in the studio. >> great to be here, you guys. >> meredith

>> bill: follow her at rolecale rolecale.com or on twitter twitter @meredithshiner. we will be back. i will be back with a quick parting shot for today. >> this is bill press show, live on your radio and on current tv. tell them it's like being nestled [ music ] surrounded by a 500-watt sound system while floating on a suspension made of billowy clouds. or you could just hand them your keys. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ then how'd i get this... [ voice of dennis ] ...allstate safe

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>>i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me. >>only on current tv. [ music ] >> the parting shot with bill press, this is "the bill press show." >> bill: all right. on this wednesday, december 5th, my parting shot for today, well you know me, i am a proud democrat, but even though i have a lot of friends who are republicans, i am glad i am not

a member of today's republican party because they are just too damn mean. like what they did to bob dole. over the years, bob dole is one of the republicans i have admired the most and grown pretty close to. he is a real war hero with a great senator from kansas, a fair and effective senate effective majority leader, a wonderful human being. what his fellow republicans did to him yesterday was outrageous. as one who triumphed over his own war injuries bob dole has championed the rights of the disabled. yesterday, he came to the senate in his wheelchair to beg his fellow republicans to endorse the united nations disability treaty which would encourage other nations to grant disabled persons and their country -- in their kuntz trees the same opportunities they enjoy here in the united states. but one by one, his republican colleagues shook his hand and then stabbed him in the back, only 8 republicans joined democrats in voting for that treaty. we know on tax cuts, republicans don't care about the middle class. yesterday, they proved they

don't care about the disabled either. shame on them. have a great wednesday, folks. we will see you right back here again tomorrow. you bet. >> this is "the bill press show." [ music ]